- Not to be confused with the character.
Superstar Rockin' Jay is the fourth episode of the twelfth season of Ninjago and the 132nd episode overall. It aired on March 29, 2020, in Asia, paired up with "Level Thirteen." It aired in the US on July 19, 2020, but was released on the Cartoon Network app on July 10.
Synopsis[]
Now inside the Prime Empire game, the ninja find themselves in unfamiliar territory, ignorant of the rules of this world, as they try to find Zane and escape Unagami's army of Red Visors.[1]
Extended: The ninja materialise inside Prime Empire and go immediately on the run when they discover a squadron of Red Visors waiting for them! They are pursued through a marketplace by the Red Visors and are cornered. Luckily, a group of rebels called the League of Jays arrives to save them. The ninja are initially confused but soon discover that during Jay's time in the game, he amassed a following of fans who have devoted themselves to his "teachings". The League of Jays helps the ninja escape from the Red Visors and leads them to Scott, the race car mechanic. As they cross the marketplace, the ninja make several discoveries. They learn that their ninja skills don't work in this digital world. Skills can only be bought or earned by playing the game. They then learn they have four lives, and when they lose those lives, they will be converted into energy cubes and whisked away by flying drones.[2]
Plot[]
At Terra Technica, the ninja, minus Jay and Zane, are walking through Prime Empire, trying to find Jay. Cole is stoked from being inside a game, ready to test all of the possibilities, such as making his avatar. Nya informs him not to get distracted, as they need to find Jay. Lloyd then informs them of the incoming Red Visors, who are scaring everyone with their presence.
When Cole thinks that they are just tutorial guides here to show them the ropes, the Red Visors suddenly attack them. The ninja attempt to use Spinjitzu, but they just twirl around and get dizzy. They then try to use their powers, but again, nothing happens. Dodging the beams shot from the Red Visors and failing to fight back, Nya points out that the loss of their Spinjitzu and Elemental Powers may be from the game deleting their techniques. When the Red Visors attempt to finish them off, multiple Jays come out of nowhere and easily defeat them. After asking who was the real Jay, Cole then explains that they aren't Jay, but some of the people who were also trapped in the game and just made their avatars look like Jay. Suddenly, Unagami's aerial drones fly towards them and scan the area. After mastering the Double Jump, the ninja follow the Jay avatars over the buildings of Prime Empire.
As they run, Lloyd complains about how easily tired he's gotten from running a short distance. One of the Jay's explains that since they are new to the game, their stats are low. Cole then concludes that the reason they don't have powers is due to them not having any skills or techniques. The same Jay shows them the amount of skills he's required already and buys the skill "Back Flip Flying Kick" and uses it to take out a couple of drones.
Now cornered by drones from all sides, the ninja and Jay avatars fight them. While the Jays use their skills to merely defeat the drones, the ninja struggle to take them down. Kai jumps on the face of a drone in an attempt to blind it while he attacks. The drone then blasts Kai with a laser, sending him flying off the building, killing him.
Kai dies.
Lloyd, witnessing Kai's death, begins to grieve over his friend, when Kai just blips beside him, alive. At first, traumatized over his supposed death, Kai realizes that he just re-spawned and is impressed, even though he just died. The Jay Avatars tell the ninja where to go next while they distract the drones, but not before also giving them a secret code and saying when there, they will meet Superstar Rockin' Jay.
Once getting to the grounds of an alleyway, the ninja spot more Red Visors up ahead where they need to go. Knowing that they still don't have enough EXP to fight back, the ninja hide, except for Kai. Believing that when he dies, he'll come back again; Kai gets the Red Visors' attention and insults Unagami. Angered, the Red Visors chase Kai until he runs past his friends, with the Visor's following. Kai continues to taunt them until one manages to shoot him, killing him again. Using this advantage, the rest of the team throw tires onto the Red Visors and roll them away; Kai re-spawns again and talks about how cool it is to die and come back again. Cole attempts to explain to Kai about how lives in a video game work, but Kai ignores him and they continue to move forward.
Arriving at the location, which was an empty parking lot, the ninja are confused by the turn of events; Kai concludes that the Jay avatars are crazy since they love Jay so much when a masked stranger holds them at gunpoint. Remembering what the Jay avatars told them, Nya tells the man the code and he lowers the gun, realizing that the league sent them and that they're here to see Superstar Rockin' Jay. He reveals his hidden hideout and invites them inside.
As the ninja are fascinated by the hideout's appearance, the stranger reveals his name to be Scott, a mechanic who's been hiding from Unagami for a while; his Red Visors want him to compete in the Speedway Five-Billion, but he denies going since he is smarter. Kai touches one of Scott's belongings as the latter warns him not to. The item blows up and kills Kai, for the third time. Upon coming back to life, Kai again brags how cool it is to have infinite lives. Scott shoots him down as he shows him his health board, which is down to one. Now being scared of the possibility of death, Kai berates his friends for not telling him this news. An annoyed Cole snaps back at him for when he did try explaining but states Kai didn't want to hear anything. Kai asks Scott what will happen if he loses his last one; Scott tells him that he doesn't want to know and that's the reason why he won't race, because he too is down to one life.
The ninja reunite with Jay.
Scott then shows them a hidden room in his garage. Inside, the ninja are greeted by the sight of many people who chose their Avatar to be Jay, with Kai thinking that they are in a nightmare. Beta Jay 137 onstage gathers the attention of the other members, telling them to get ready for Superstar Rockin' Jay. Then, Superstar Rockin' Jay appears onstage and plays his guitar for a brief moment. As he thanks his fans for listening, he spots the ninja team in the crowd. Excited, he runs up to them and hugs them, revealing this to be the real Jay. Jay then expresses his love for Prime Empire to his friends.
Appearances[]
Characters[]
Cast[]
- Beta Jay 137 - Andrew Francis
- Cole - Kirby Morrow
- Dee-Jay 81 - Paul Dobson
- Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
- Jaybird 64 - Kelly Metzger
- Jaywalkin 238 - Bill Newton
- Kai - Vincent Tong
- Lloyd Garmadon - Sam Vincent
- Nya - Kelly Metzger
- Red Visors - Sam Vincent
- Scott - Adrian Petriw
Non-speaking[]
Mentioned[]
Items[]
- Credits
- Energy cubes (mentioned)
- Health boards
- Inventories
- Jay's guitar
- Laser blasters
- Level 999 Stealth Barrier
- Mister Cuddlywomp (mentioned)
Vehicles[]
Locations[]
- Prime Empire
- Terra Technica
- Marketplace
- Weapon Shop
- Item Market
- Scott's garage
- Hidden chamber
- Marketplace
- Terra Technica
Species[]
Transcript[]
For the transcript of the episode, click here.
Trivia[]
Cultural references[]
- Two of the lines said by Beta Jay 137 are similar to iconic movie lines:
- "Come with us if you want to keep playing" is similar to the Kyle Reese's line to Sarah Connor in The Terminator, "Come with me if you want to live."
- "There may come a day when the courage of Jays fails... but this is not that day!" is similar to Aragorn's statement in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, when Aragorn intercedes to the army in front of the Black Gate.
Continuity[]
- This episode marks the sixth time a character's name is directly mentioned in an episode's title.
- The first five being "Return of the Overlord" (The Overlord), "Codename: Arcturus" (Arcturus), "My Dinner With Nadakhan" (Nadakhan), "Saving Faith" (Faith), and "Krag's Lament" (Krag).
- This is the first time a ninja's name is in the title of an episode.
- This is one of the nine episodes where the title refers to a ninja. The other eight are "Tick Tock", "The Green Ninja", "The Titanium Ninja", "Snake Jaguar", "Fire Maker", "My Enemy, My Friend", "The Son of Lilly", and “The Gift of Jay”.
- The ninja discover they can not perform Spinjitzu nor use their Elemental Powers in the game.
- When Kai asks why he can't keep his powers for more then a short time, he is referring to Season 11, when he didn't have his power from "Boobytraps and How to Survive Them" to "Fire Maker" because it was taken by Aspheera.
- It’s also possible this was a nod towards the fact that the ninja have a tendency to lose their powers often.
- Four other players appear with various Jay avatars, including his suit and designs from the pilot episodes, Tournament of Elements, Sons of Garmadon, and Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu. However, besides Beta Jay 137, it's not confirmed which player is which.This is the first episode animated by WildBrain, where a ninja appears in his pre-movie appearance, although he is not exactly the same character.
- Cole's experience with video games, as seen in "Wasted True Potential," comes in handy as he helps the other ninja acclimate to the game.
- Kai dies three times in this episode, leaving him with only one life left.
- Scott reveals that he only has one life left as well.
- Jay's avatar is seen for the first time.
- A player with an avatar of Zane's pink gi can be seen roaming the game.
- The code that Beta Jay 137 gives the ninja to access Scott's garage "Mister Cuddlywomp" is a reference to Jay's teddy bear from "The Attack".
Errors[]
- The Cartoon Network official description says the ninja are searching for Zane, not Jay.
- After helping the ninja the Jay wearing the original gi's mask is out of shape, and the blue appears to be more lighter compared to the gi itself.
Video[]
Gallery[]
For the gallery of the episode, click here.
Translations[]
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Polish | Jay Supergwiazda |
| Spanish | Jay, la estrella del rock |